In Cubs' historic season, Pete Crow-Armstrong could make history of his own

With Opening Day already stuffed with Hall of Famers (Lee Smith, Billy Williams, Andre Dawson, Fergie Jenkins), 2016 World Series heroes (Anthony Rizzo), an Army color guard and a Marine Fighter Squadron flyover (F/A 18 Hornets), the Cubs evidently decided that was enough pomp and circumstance for one afternoon.

The media conference announcing Pete Crow-Armstrong’s six-year, $115 million contract extension was scheduled instead for Friday afternoon. That spared the Cubs’ newly minted center fielder from having to answer any questions after Thursday’s 10-4 loss to the Nationals dampened the spirits of 39,712 wind-chilled souls in Wrigley Field, not long before the skies opened for a postgame soaking.

The afternoon was not a total loss for PCA. (The same cannot be said for new third baseman Alex Bregman, who was thrown out on the basepaths and had a grounder pass undisturbed between his legs in a forgettable Wrigley debut.) Crow-Armstrong came out to raucous applause (and obligatory chant) during pregame introductions and had two run-scoring hits, one a perfectly placed bunt down a vacated third-base line that scored Michael Busch (two doubles and a single) in the seventh. The Cubs had four hits in an astounding 19 at-bats with runners in scoring position — PCA had two of them.

And while the Cubs unfurled an oversized 150th-anniversary banner at home plate, it’s no small thing, historically speaking, what PCA is on the cusp of achieving with his new deal.

Job security doesn’t typically come with the territory for Cubs center fielders. Since 2000, the Cubs have had 15 different center fielders on Opening Day — a list that begins with Damon Buford and includes such one-year stopgaps as Felix Pie, Alfonso Soriano, Juan Pierre, David DeJesus and Emilio Bonifacio.

“That position is just so hard to fill,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before the game. “It’s a young man’s position. Speed and twitchiness is so much a part of being able to play center field.

“When you look around baseball, it’s hard to find. It’s a position that we’ve struggled to find at times, so having an elite defensive center fielder now, it’s a great feeling.”

Over the course of the last 100 years, only three Cubs center fielders have played 100 or more games on that patch of green in four or more seasons. Hall of Famer Hack Wilson l (1926-1930) managed five seasons, but drank his way out of Chicago, getting traded a year after hitting 56 home runs and knocking in 191 runs, a record that still stands. He was out of baseball three years later, and died a pauper’s death at 48. Andy Pafko made All-Star teams four times after World War II, then was traded to Brooklyn in an eight-player deal that included Eddie Miksis coming to the Cubs. Miksis, a paragon of mediocrity, received one vote for the Hall of Fame. Said Miksis: “He must have had a few beers before he made out his ballot.’’

The third Cubs center fielder with a measure of longevity is Rick Monday, who will be forever remembered here for rescuing an American flag from a couple of miscreants attempting to set the flag afire on the Dodger Stadium lawn.

Monday, still going strong as Dodgers broadcaster at age 80, was traded to L.A. after the 1976 season, one in which he hit 32 home runs and posted an .853 OPS, both career highs. Newspaper reports at the time quoted newly installed GM Bob Kennedy as saying the team could not come to terms with Monday on a new deal.

“You want to hear how it went down?” Monday said by phone on Wednesday.

Kennedy, he said, called him at his home office in Arizona. “I said, ‘Bob, congratulations on becoming general manager of the Cubs. He goes, ‘Well, this is not a social call. I appreciate the job you’ve done with the Cubs, I know you’re a popular player, yada yada, but we just traded you to the Dodgers.’’’

Kennedy was so eager to make the deal, Monday said, that he forgot that as a player with 10 years in the big leagues and 5 with the Cubs, Monday had the right to refuse the trade. When Kennedy learned that Monday might do just that, he threatened to cut his salary by 20 percent.

Monday became a Dodger. Bill Buckner was dealt to the Cubs. Win-win for both sides.

Monday loved his time in Chicago. His children were born here. He had a great relationship with the fans, not unlike PCA. He expects Crow-Armstrong, who turned just 24 on Wednesday, will live long and prosper in Chicago.

“To me, he’s an exciting player,’’ Monday said. “I don’t know what his ceiling is right now. I know if he keeps playing hard he’s going to keep raising the ceiling.

“His agenda is to do whatever he needs to do to help his ballclub win a ballgame.

“And he’s got a nice touch with the fans. He recognizes the people that are at the ballpark.’’

With the new contract in hand, there’s something new PCA can add to his agenda, according to teammate Dansby Swanson. From now on, Swanson said, PCA can no longer assume dinner will be on him.